New Smoking Law Targets Gloucestershire Drivers

Anyone lighting up while driving or as a passenger with a child under 18 in the car will be breaking the law and could be fined.

Suzette Davenport, Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary and National Police Chiefs' Council lead on Roads Policing, said:

''As the existing smoke-free law extends to vehicles, police forces will be taking an educational, advisory and non-confrontational approach when enforcing the new legislation. This would see people being given warnings rather than being issued with fines, which would give time for public awareness of the offences to build.

"This is based on experience of implementing the current smoke-free legislation and the Department of Health's proposal that this approach should be adopted for a minimum of three months to help build a high level of compliance.

"Local authorities enforce the existing legislation and police forces are included as enforcement authorities for the new offences. During this period individual offences that justify enforcement action will be reported to local authorities.''